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October 10, 2013
Mitimiti matakite story for Toronto film fest
Waatea Team
Posted On October 10, 2013
A project to encourage flax roots screenwriting has borne fruit, with the result to be premiered at the world’s largest indigenous film festival in Canada this month.
Pumanawa: The Gift has been selected for the short film section of the ImagineNATIVE festival in Toronto, and the New Zealand Film Festival is trying to place it in other international festivals.
Director Poata Eruera says it was one of four scripts that came out of a Nga Aho Whakaari workshop held in the Hokianga.
Made for just $25,000, it tells the story of a young woman with a traditional Maori spiritual gift who is attracted to a devout Christian whose views could threaten that heritage.
Mr Eruera says the writers, Marie Thompson and Wayne Te Tai, come from Mitimiti.
"And it was a lovely little story and of course it's such a Catholic bastion up there that the story is essentially the conflict between church and matakite, and who better to write it than two people who are involved in both areas," he says.
Mr Eruera says the main actors in Pumanawa, Ngahuia Piripi and Rawiri Pene, did a superb job and should do well if they can get bigger roles.
This year's ImagiNATIVE festival is spotlighting Maori, with a range of classic and recent features, shorts and radio dramas on the programme.
Copyright © 2013, UMA Broadcasting Ltd
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